Electronic printing devices have become an integral part of many business environments. Most businesses that use paper in their workflow tend to create documents using an electronic printer and these printers are frequently connected to a computer network. Electronic printers are becoming more widely used as the technology becomes generally accepted, but the use of these printers can add up to a significant cost for any business. Businesses may use laser printers, dot matrix printers, inkjet printers, plotters, large format printers and other electronic printers which all incur costs when they are used.
In order to aid customers and businesses in managing and controlling the cost of their printing systems, printer vendors offer contract service plans which assist customers with the maintenance and upkeep of their printers. These printer management contracts help reduce the complexity of printer management and can cut the bottom-line printer costs for businesses. Printer management contracts can include a complete usage-based package including the latest printer hardware technology, printer cartridges, maintenance, and a high level of quality support. A printer management service also helps manage user efficiency and control print related expenses.
A printer management contract generally provides services and supplies to a business over a specific term (e.g., a one-year contract term). One goal of these services is to reduce per page printing costs, simplify print management, and streamline administration for the customer. By using planned print services, businesses can reduce printer downtime, improve business budgeting, and provide a constant support service for all of the printing needs of a business. In addition, customers often contract for a specific amount of printer consumables in advance, such as toner, and the customer may receive a volume rate for the consumables.
Another aim of a printer vendor is to provide a printer support contract that includes all the diverse aspects of printer management. As mentioned, this support often includes hardware, consumables, installation, support, and maintenance (including parts and labor). Businesses benefit from this type of tightly coupled service and support by keeping printers running at high performance and preventing printer downtime due to a lack of printer cartridges, maintenance kits, or functional printers. A service contract benefits the printer vendor because a fixed service contract can provide a constant stream of revenue for the vendor.
In order to service customer printer contracts, a printer vendor typically collects data from each printer covered by the printer vendor's service contract regarding the printer's current maintenance status. The collection of the printer maintenance information is often performed by a harvesting server. The harvesting server can be configured to poll each of a customer's printers on a specific network at least once during a given time interval to determine the printer maintenance status. For example, the polling may take place once every 24 hours or once a week. Checking the printer maintenance status includes determining whether the printer is functioning properly and what the current state of consumables is for a specific printer. For example, the central harvesting server can request information from the printer regarding the toner level, ink level, number of copies printed, the length of time remaining for a drive belt, and similar maintenance information.
One of the problems encountered with the polling method for harvesting printer information is that if the customer's printers are powered-off when polling takes place, the printers will not be accessible using the standard discovery and data harvesting network protocols. This can especially be a problem because the polling preferably takes place at night or on the weekend in order to help reduce network traffic.
When the printer vendor has contracted with a customer to poll their printers at least once per time interval (e.g., each day) and the printers are powered-off, then the printers cannot be polled. This data inaccessibility creates a service problem for the printer vendor. Typically the information that is gathered by the harvesting server is used to predict when toner, ink or maintenance kits are to be ordered for the contracted printers or printing devices. If this data is not available because the printers are powered-off, then the consumables and maintenance kits cannot be ordered on behalf of the customer. In addition, regular maintenance services are not likely to be performed in a timely manner. Thus, the printer vendor is not able to fulfill the contract as agreed. Further, the consumables, maintenance kits, and needed services may be delayed for any number of days as long as the printer is powered-off during the polling period. This situation may occur regardless of whether the polling period is at night or in the daytime. Printer vendors with a printer management contract want to be able to service the customer in a timely manner in order to keep the customer happy and maximize the efficiency of the customer's printing systems. Unfortunately, providing high quality print management services can be difficult if the appropriate printer data cannot be harvested.